Business survival is simple: Profit, or die. Government is less obvious but a reasonable measure might be Ronald Reagan’s famous use of: “Are you better off than you were?” Businessfolk lie to us at their peril; that is illegal, and punished. The politicians who have made that illegal have excluded themselves from that prohibition; their lies should embarrass used car salesmen and the pols think nothing about it–and to our own misfortune, no more do we. Considering this universal pattern, raises questions.

Here, following a short list of salient facts, is one such question for Democrats, Republicans and all others:

1. We and our kids seem less safe in our civil society than was true for much of last century.

2. A single worker adequately supported many families for nearly 2/3’s of the last century, after that, most women have had to work.